Scribd
Upload
348 views2 pages

Time For Play Everyday PDF

The Alliance for Childhood promotes policies that support healthy child development through play. The document discusses how children today spend much less time in child-initiated play due to increased screen time, academic pressure, overscheduling, and loss of play spaces. Extensive research shows that play is fundamental to children's intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. The document provides recommendations for advocating for children's right to daily play and lists resources for parents to help children play more.

Uploaded by

cinthyux
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
348 views2 pages

Time For Play Everyday PDF

The Alliance for Childhood promotes policies that support healthy child development through play. The document discusses how children today spend much less time in child-initiated play due to increased screen time, academic pressure, overscheduling, and loss of play spaces. Extensive research shows that play is fundamental to children's intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. The document provides recommendations for advocating for children's right to daily play and lists resources for parents to help children play more.

Uploaded by

cinthyux
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The Alliance for Childhood promotes policies and practices

that support children's healthy development, love of learning,


and joy in living. Our public education campaigns bring to
light both the promise and the vulnerability of childhood. We
act for the sake of the children themselves and for a more just,
democratic, and ecologically responsible future. For more
information visit our web site: www.allianceforchildhood.org.

Time for Play, Every Day:


It's Fun and Fundamental
There was a time when children played from morning
till night.
They ran, jumped, played dress-up, and created endless
stories out of their active imaginations.
Now, many scarcely play this way at all. What
happened?

Over four and a half hours per day watching


TV, video game, and computer screens;1

Academic pressure and testing, beginning with


three-year-olds;

Overscheduled lives full of adult-organized


activities;

Loss of school recess and safe green space for


outdoor play.

Decades of research clearly demonstrate that play


active and full of imaginationis more than just fun and
games. It boosts healthy development across a broad
spectrum of critical areas: intellectual, social, emotional,
and physical. The benefits are so impressive that every
day of childhood should be a day for play.

What's the smartest thing a young child can do with a computer


or TV? Play with the box it came in! Computers tend to insist on
being just computers, programmed by adults. But an empty box
becomes a cave, a canoe, a cabin, a candy shopwhatever and
whenever the child's magic wand of imagination decrees.

Photograph by Dody Riggs

THE BENEFITS OF PLAY


Child-initiated play lays a foundation for learning and
academic success. Through play, children learn to
interact with others, develop language skills, recognize
and solve problems, and discover their human potential.
In short, play helps children make sense of and find
their place in the world.

Physical development: The rough and tumble of


active play facilitates children's sensorimotor
development. It is a natural preventive for the
current epidemic of childhood obesity. Research
suggests that recess also boosts schoolchildren's
academic performance.2

Academics: There is a close link between play and


healthy cognitive growth. It lays the foundation for
later academic success in reading and writing. It
provides hands-on experiences with real-life
materials that help children develop abstract
scientific and mathematical concepts. Play is critical
for the development of imagination and creative
problem-solving skills.3

Social and emotional learning: Research suggests


that social make-believe play is related to increases
in cooperation, empathy, and impulse control,
reduced aggression, and better overall emotional
and social health.4

Sheer joy: The evidence is clearhealthy children


of all ages love to play. Experts in child
development say that plenty of time for childhood
play is one of the key factors leading to happiness
in adulthood.5

w w w. a l l i a n c e f o r c h i l d h o o d . o r g

OTHER RESOURCES FOR REVIVING PLAY:


International Association for the Child's Right to Play (Play Day kits):
914-323-5327; www.ipausa.org
Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment (Annual Toy
Guide): 617-879-2167; www.truceteachers.org
TV Turnoff Network (Take Action page for limiting TV time): 202-3339220; www.tvturnoff.org
Playing for Keeps (Play ideas and resources for parents and educators):
877-755-5347; www.playingforkeeps.org

All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming Our
Preschoolers, Sharna Olfman, Ph.D., ed.

Photograph by Larry Canner

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR


CHILD PLAY

Reduce or eliminate screen time: Give your children


a chance to flex their own imaginative muscles. They
may be bored at first. Be prepared with simple
playthings and suggestions for make-believe play to
inspire their inner creativity.
Curtail time spent in adult-organized activities:
Children need time for self-initiated play.
Overscheduled lives leave little time for play.
Choose simple toys: A good toy is 10 percent toy
and 90 percent child. The child's imagination is the
engine of healthy play. Simple toys and natural
materials, like wood, boxes, balls, dolls, sand, and
clay invite children to create their own scenesand
then knock them down and start over.

Encourage outdoor adventures: Reserve time every


day for outdoor play where children can run, climb,
find secret hiding places, and dream up dramas.
Natural materialssticks, mud, water, rocksare the
raw materials of play.

Bring back the art of real work: Believe it or not,


adult activitycooking, raking, cleaning, washing
the caractually inspires children to play. Children
like to help for short periods and then engage in their
own play.

Children at Play: Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Child Development


by Heidi Britz-Crecelius
Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children by Carol
Petrash
Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our AchievementOriented Society by William Crain, Ph.D.
The House of Make Believe by Dorothy G. Singer, Ph.D. and Jerome L.
Singer, Ph.D.
Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, by Susan Linn
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit
Disorder, by Richard Louv

Footnotes
1 Emory Woodard, "Media in the Home 2000," Annenberg Public
Policy Center, U. of Penn., 2000.
2 Anthony D. Pellegrini and P.K. Smith, "Physical Activity Play: The
Nature and Function of a Neglected Aspect of Play," Child
Development 69(3), June 1998; Susan J. Oliver and Edgar Klugman,
"What We Know About Play," Child Care Information Exchange, Sept.
2002.
3 Doris Bergen, "The Role of Pretend Play in Children's Cognitive

Development," Early Childhood Research and Practice, 4(1), Spring


2002; Jerome L. Singer, "Cognitive and Affective Implications of
Imaginative Play in Childhood," in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A
Comprehensive Textbook, Melvin Lewis, ed., 2002; Oliver and
Klugman, op. cit.; Edgar Klugman and Sara Smilansky, Children's Play
and Learning: Perspectives and Policy Implications, New York: Teachers
College Press, 1990; Pellegrini and Smith, op. cit.
4 Robert J. Coplan and K.H. Rubin, "Social Play," Play from Birth to

Twelve and Beyond, Garland Press, 1998; Klugman and Smilansky,


op.cit.; Singer, op. cit.
5 Edward Hallowell, The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness, New

York: Ballantine, 2002.

BECOME AN ADVOCATE FOR PLAY

Spread the word: Share the evidence about the


importance of imaginative play in preschool and
kindergarten, and of recess for older children, with
parents, teachers, school officials, and policymakers.

Lobby for safe, well-maintained parks and play areas


in your community. If safety is a concern, organize
with other parents to monitor play areas.

Start an annual local Play Day. For tips on how to do


this in your neighborhood or town, see
www.ipausa.org.

Alliance for Childhood


PO Box 444
College Park, MD 20741
Voice and Fax: 301-779-1033
e-mail: [email protected]

You might also like